Hilliard, Earl Frederick

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Hilliard, Earl Frederick

April 9, 1942

Congressman and lawyer Earl Hilliard, an activist in the modern civil rights movement in Alabama, was the first African American elected as representative to the U.S. Congress since the Reconstruction. Born in Birmingham to William and Iola Frazier Hilliard, he was educated at Morehouse College (B.A., 1964), Howard University School of Law (J.D., 1967), and Atlanta University School of Business (M.B.A., 1970). Hilliard began his career as a teacher at Miles College (1967–1968) and then was assistant to the president of Alabama State University (1968–1970).

Hilliard's work with voter-registration drives and participation in protest marches during the civil rights era of the 1960s gave him access to many blacks in the area. Elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1974, he chaired the first Alabama Black Legislative Caucus. He ran for office again in 1980, winning election to the state senate. Redistricting in Alabama after the 1990 census made possible the new Seventh Congressional District, which encompassed black neighborhoods around Birmingham and Montgomery. In a runoff election in 1992, Hilliard narrowly won a seat in the U.S. Congress.

In Congress Hilliard served on the House Agriculture Committee and the Committee on International Relations. He was first vice chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and later vice chair of the Progressive Caucus. He aggressively represented the interests of his home state, as demonstrated by the federal transportation grant that he obtained to restore ferry service in the predominantly black town of Gees Bend. He also enabled Alabama to receive three of the federal government's "enterprise zones," which provided tax incentives to promote business in depressed areas.

In 1999 Hilliard was investigated by the House Ethics Committee for possible personal and campaign finance violations. In 2002 he was defeated in the Alabama Democratic runoff race by Arthur Davis.